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lrpl taylor

A year is a long time in sports...

One year ago NZ cricket was mired in a mess. The sacking of Ross Taylor as captain was a case study on how not to do it. It was appalling. Someone should have been sacked. I don't argue with the outcome, as I was one who thought he shouldn't have been the captain in the first place - but the process was unprofessional and, more importantly, demeaning to the person himself.

Taylor took some time out and then came back - and, boy, has he come back. In this current Test he has become the NZ cricketer with the highest Test average (for those who have played more than 20 innings) - higher than Crowe and Turner, Fleming and Sutcliffe. That is an achievement to celebrate.

But there is another achievement hidden away so that only trainspotting cricket-statistics nerds like me will ever notice. Take a look at the list of players with the most catches in Test history from all countries across all times. But look a little closer. Consider the column of catches per innings. The top dozen of all-time - among those with more than 70 catches looks like this:

But if you know your cricket - reflect on this list for a little longer. It is the stronger bowling teams - particularly with faster bowlers getting nicks into the slips more often - that will produce catchers with higher statistics.

In that list, the Aussies (#1, 5, 10, 11, 12) all come from teams with exceptional bowling resources. So does #9 from South Africa. #4, and to a lesser extent, #8, were part of a fine era of English bowling (but #6 not so much). Only one South Asian (#7), a context known for pitches that are a graveyard for fast bowling.

Which leaves us with two Kiwis way up there at #2 and #3. Neither one comes from the era of Hadlee. Both from weaker Test teams - particularly Ross Taylor. Fiery fast bowlers inducing lots of nicks into the slips? Not in Taylor's era. This is a remarkable achievement. Among NZers, Crowe is only at .546, Coney at .659 (but the safe and gifted, Bryan Young, was 54 from 58 - and .931!)

But across the history of Test cricket, Ross Taylor is one of the most reliable (and unheralded) catchers that the game has known.